BALTIMORE — St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke took center stage during debate on two controversial topics Tuesday as the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops met in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting.
Burke, who is trained as a canon, or church, lawyer, submitted 10 amendments to two proposed documents, more than any other bishop except former St. Louis and current Philadelphia archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali, who submitted 15.
More coverage: Ann Rogers, typically, gives us a balanced view:
Dignity USA, a group for gay Catholics that dissents from church teaching, called it "deeply flawed" and had asked the bishops to delay it to consult with gay Catholics. However, it was a group of very conservative bishops who tried to postpone the document for more consultation, because they wanted an endorsement of psychotherapy to change sexual orientation.
An earlier draft had said that there was "no moral obligation" for gay people to undergo therapy. The final draft eliminated that sentence, but did not endorse such therapy, saying there was no consensus on it.
The document on reception of communion grew out of disputes in 2004 about whether politicians who support abortion rights should be refused communion.
Some bishops thought both topics should have been included, and also wanted to add contraceptive use to a list of reasons that Catholics should refrain from communion. An earlier report indicated that only 4 percent of Catholic married couples of child-bearing age practice the church-recommended natural family planing.
Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson, N.J., said that the drafters did not include contraception because it was not intended to be a comprehensive list of sins and there was a concern that this "particularly difficult pastoral problem" would distract from everything else in the document. Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, auxiliary of San Diego, argued that not mentioning it would draw even more attention.
"If we are silent on this issue, perhaps people won’t go so far as to say we are winking at it, but at least we would easily create the misperception that this is not an issue involving grave matter." "Grave matter," along with informed reflection and willful intent, constitutes mortal sin.
The move to name contraception as a reason to refrain from communion failed 148-75.
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